Benny the Bull is the mascot of the Chicago Bulls, a role he has filled since 1969. He has become just as popular as some of the franchise’s most notable figures, such as players Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman and head coach Phil Jackson. Benny is one of the longest-tenured mascots in the NBA and in all of professional sports.
Dennis Rodman is a former NBA player, most famously with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. Nicknamed “The Worm,” he was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years (1991-98) and won five NBA championships (1989-1990, 1996-1998). In 1993, Rodman reinvented himself as a “bad boy” and became notorious for his brightly colored hair, piercings, tattoos and controversial, disruptive antics. He famously wore a wedding dress to promote his 1996 autobiography Bad As I Wanna Be and pursued a high-profile affair with singer Madonna. He was born on this day in 1961.
Note: On February 26, 2013, Rodman made a trip to North Korea to host basketball exhibitions featuring the Harlem Globetrotters. He met North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un and later called Kim “his friend” and suggested that President Barack Obama “should pick up the phone and call” Kim since the two leaders are basketball fans. On May 7, self-appointed North Korean ambassador Rodman called on Kim Jong-un to release Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in North Korea. Almost equally strangely, in March 2013, Rodman arrived at Vatican City during voting in the papal conclave, which elected Pope Francis I.
Scottie Pippen is a retired American professional basketball player who played 17 seasons in the NBA. He is most remembered for his 12 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, with whom he was instrumental in six NBA titles and their record 1995-96 season of 72 wins. Pippen, along with Michael Jordan, played an important role in transforming the Bulls team into a vehicle for popularizing the NBA around the world during the 1990s. Pippen is also the only person to have won an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice (1992, 1996).
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers. Case recorded and toured for several years as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends before performing solely under her name. I particularly enjoy her Fox Confessor Brings the Flood album. Also, she is hilarious on Twitter.
Note: This 8-bit black dress is what she wore for the epic cover of her 2009 album Middle Cyclone, in which she stood barefoot, with a sword, on the hood of her burgundy 1967 Mercury Cougar. In 2011, Case auctioned the car to support 826 National, a nonprofit organization helping children become better writers.
Bobby Orr is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He played his 12-season career (1966-1978) for the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Black Hawks. A defenseman, Orr used his skating speed and scoring abilities to revolutionize the position. Orr remains the only defenseman to have won the league scoring title. He was named the NHL’s best defenseman eight consecutive times and MVP three consecutive times. With Orr, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1970 and 1972. He is one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
Shel Silverstein was an American cartoonist, musician and, most famously, author of children’s books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in his children’s books. Most popular are The Giving Tree (1964) and Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974)—both childhood favorites of mine. Translated into more than 30 languages, Silverstein’s books have sold over 20 million copies. He was born on this day in 1930.
The unnecessarily huge photo of a bald, bearded Silverstein with a tooth-baring grimace on the back covers of his books was scary in the 1980s and it’s still creepy today. Why, Uncle Shelby, why?
Walter Payton was a National Football League (NFL) player known as “Sweetness.” He played running back for the Chicago Bears for 13 seasons. Payton won two MVP awards as well as Super Bowl XX (1985). He once held the league’s record for most career rushing yards, touchdowns, carries, yards from scrimmage, all-purpose yards and many other categories. He died in 1999 at age 45 from a rare liver disease.
Ray Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers. He is best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his science fiction short story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951). Many of Bradbury’s works have been adapted into television shows or films. He was born on this day in 1920 and died on June 5, 2012.
Philip K. Dick was one of the most influential science fiction writers of the 20th century. His 44 published novels and 121 short stories often featured monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, altered states, paranoia and transcendental experiences. Although Dick spent most of his career in near-poverty, 10 popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report.
P.S. In February and March 1974, Dick experienced a series of life-changing visions, including an information-rich “pink light” beam that transmitted directly into his consciousness. For the final eight years of his life, this fictionalizing philosopher explored the meaning of his “2-3-74″ experience with works like VALIS (1981).
Ernest Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His minimalist style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s. In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He was born on July 21, 1899 and committed suicide in 1961.
Michelle Obama is the wife of President Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised in Chicago, she is the mother of two daughters, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University. She is an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition and healthy eating.
First Lady Michelle Obama will provide the commencement address at Oregon State University in Corvallis on Sunday, June 17, 2012.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the 67th U.S. Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a U.S. Senator for New York from 2001-2009. As the wife of President Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the United States from 1993-2001. In the 2008 election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Note: Remember Hillary Clinton’s Rainbow Coalition of Pantsuits?
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect and interior designer who believed in designing harmonious structures of organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by his design for Fallingwater (1935) in Pennsylvania, which has been called “the best all-time work of American architecture.” Wright was born on this day in 1867.
Of Wright’s over 400 works, only one structure is located in Oregon. It’s the Gordon House at the Oregon Garden in Silverton. I plan to visit the Fallingwater property when I’m back in Pennsylvania later this month.
Eddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered an icon of alternative rock and Seattle grunge. Vedder was originally invited to Seattle in 1990 by former Mother Love Bone members to audition for the Temple of the Dog tribute project and their new band Mookie Blaylock (renamed Pearl Jam in 1991).
An American rhythm and blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He was known as “The Originator” because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock & roll. His driving rhythms and hard-edged guitar sound were highly influential. His trademark rectangular guitar is one example of his technical innovations. He was born on this day in 1928.
Walt Disney is an American film producer, animator, entrepreneur and international icon, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. He co-founded The Walt Disney Company, which has become one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. He died on this day in 1966.
An American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the “Capones,” was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early 1920s to 1931. Capone was convicted of tax evasion and spent years in Alcatraz.
In addition to being a derogatory term traditionally associated with African Americans, Rastus is also the name of the Cream of Wheat cereal mascot. The character first appeared in 1893 and is reportedly based on a photograph of Chicago chef Frank L. White. Over 100 years later, his face still appears on the cereal box.
A Chicago-based American television host, best known for her self-titled talk show, which became the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. The Oprah Winfrey Show concluded one month ago, on May 25, 2011.
I am in Chicago for the HOW Design Conference 2011 this week. This is the second of three Chicago-related characters.
Thomas Edison – No. 574
Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He helped develop many influential devices, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera and the electric light bulb. However, to quote the hilarious Nikola Tesla comic by The Oatmeal, “Edison did not invent the light bulb. Edison simply figured out how to sell the light bulb. Edison was not a geek; he was a CEO.” And he was a terrible human being. For example, as a developer of direct current (DC) electricity, Edison put live “dogs and cats on display and publicly electrocuted them using Tesla’s alternating current (AC). His goal was to publicly smear Tesla’s AC and convince the public that it was too dangerous for home use. The only thing Edison truly pioneered was douchebaggery.” Edison was born on this day in 1847.
I will also reiterate what I wrote for my 8-bit Nikola Tesla character last year. I love this Funny or Die episode about Tesla and the evil Thomas Edison: “This is awful. I am inventing electricity and you look like an asshole.”